1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method and a program and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus and method and a program capable of more efficiently presenting an image to a user without a cumbersome operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, an image reproduction apparatus called a digital photo frame for displaying an arbitrarily image selected from among images stored on a recording medium such as a flash memory or displaying images in a slide show, that is, sequentially displaying a plurality of images, is known.
Recently, an image reproduction apparatus for displaying not only images in a slide show but also images subjected to image conversion so as to enhance entertainment has been also proposed. For example, such an image reproduction apparatus, there is an apparatus for converting an image into a picture-like tone. In this image reproduction apparatus, an image is converted into an artistically expressed image such as a water-color painting mode or an oil painting mode designated by a user.
As a method of presenting an image, a method of graying a displayed image in a stepwise fashion with the passage of time from preparation of an image file (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-141678) or a method of performing color conversion of an image so as to achieve a tone close to a model image obtained by keyword retrieval (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-171176).